Frost Freezes Out All-Comers In Kriens by Howard Harding
May 31, 2011-
Denmark’s Kristian Frost Olesen enjoyed his best-ever run on the
professional squash circuit when he lifted the inaugural Pilatus Cup
after defeating fourth-seeded Frenchman Julien Balbo in the final of
the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 event at Sportpark Pilatus in the
Swiss town of Kriens.
It was the climax of a genuine
‘giant-killing’ run by the unseeded 22-year-old from Odense
who made his breakthrough in the opening round with a five-game defeat
of USA’s third seed Gilly Lane.
But Frost, ranked 79 in the world,
had enough left in his armoury to overcome top-seeded Englishman Chris
Simpson, the world No48, in the semi-final before going on to despatch
world No70 Balbo 11-5, 4-11, 11-6, 11-1 in the final.
“I didn't expect to win the
first round because my draw was really tough,” explained the
jubilant Dane later. “So I had to change my flight at least
when I won in the semis.
“I'm really happy about this
win and I like to thank Mario (Tschopp) and all the guys who helped
with the tournament.”
Balbo, who upset Italy’s
second seed Stephane Galifi in a five-game semi-final marathon, was
making no excuses: “Yesterday’s match was tough - but
we are used to play many hard matches in a few days,” said the
Grenoble-born 32-year-old.
“So I was not too tired, but
it was so difficult to get points against Kristian because he's such a
good athlete. Congratulations to him.”
Olesen was celebrating his third appearance in a PSA Tour final – but his first title triumph.
There was an upset in the final of
the women’s WISPA World Tour 4 event when England’s Lauren
Briggs outplayed local star Gaby Huber, the top seed from Langnau in
Switzerland, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5.
Briggs, the fourth seed, made her
breakthrough in the semis where she beat Czech Republic’s No2
seed Olga Ertlova, also in straight games.
“I’ve come back from a
knee injury, so I'm glad to be back on tour,” said Briggs after
picking up her third WISPA title in a row. “I really like
Lucerne, I've never been to this region of Switzerland before, but it
is so lovely.”
RESULTS: Pilatus Squash Cup, Kriens, Switzerland
Men's semi-finals:
Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) bt [1] Chris Simpson (ENG) 12-10, 11-8, 7-11, 14-12